Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Mad science: Varieties of fear?

Traditionally, neuroscientists studying the human fear response have proposed a twinned mental process to describe how we deal with scary stuff. This model, the "low road/high road" established in the late 1990s, posits that fearful data takes two simultaneous routes in the brain. The first path – the "low road" – is a quick and dirty assessment system that takes in data quickly (it actually operates fast than vision, so it process fragments of sensory data) and kicks in a protective response. Think of it as your startle response. There are three steps in the low road process: 1. The thalamus – this part of the brain sorts and distributes sensory data 2. The amygdala – this part of the brain decodes emotions, assesses threat levels, and stores fearful memories 3. The hypothalamus – this part of the brain kicks in the "fight of flight" response

The "high road" process adds two steps to the fear response, adding to the overall length of the process and slowing the reaction speed considerably. The "high road" starts at the thalamus, but then goes to the hippocampus, a section of the brain responsible for storing conscious memory and assisting in the analysis of new data. After this, the data loops through the sensory cortex as the hippocampus "checks" its assumptions and conclusions against streaming sensory data. Once the hippocampus has reached a conclusion, it transmits data through the amygdala to the hypothalamus, either confirming the need for a "flight or fight" response or sending an all-clear signal.

For nearly a decade, the dominant theories of how fear works in the human brain have focused on this twinned process. The model has been popularized in the press – forming the basis for the bestseller The Gift of Fear and getting mentions in such pop psych books as Blink - and has even showed up in the pro-am blog circuit, notably in well-intentioned arguments regarding whether or not this has any implications for horror literature and film.

The study adds to evidence that primal fear responses do not depend on the amygdala – long a favored region of fear researchers – but on an obscure corner of the primeval brain.

A group of neuroscientists led by Larry Swanson of the University of Southern California studied the brain activity of rats and mice exposed to cats, or to rival rodents defending their territory.

Both experiences activated neurons in the dorsal premammillary nucleus, part of an ancient brain region called the hypothalamus.

Swanson's group then made tiny lesions in the same area. Those rodents behaved far differently.

"These animals are not afraid of a predator," Swanson said. "It's almost like they go up and shake hands with a predator."

Lost fear of cats in rodents with such lesions has been observed before. More important for studies of social interaction, the study replicated the finding for male rats that wandered into another male's territory.

Instead of adopting the usual passive pose, the intruder frequently stood upright and boxed with the resident male, avoided exposing his neck and back, and came back for more even when losing.

"It's amazing that these lesions appear to abolish innate fear responses," said Swanson, who added: "The same basic circuitry is found in primates and people that we find in rats and mice."

What's the take away?

"This is a new perspective on what part of the brain controls fear," he said.

He explained that most amygdala studies have focused on a different type of fear, which might more accurately be called caution or risk aversion.

In those studies, animals receive an electric shock to their feet. When placed in the same environment a few days later, they display caution and increased activity of the amygdala.

But the emotion experienced in that case may differ from the response to a physical attack.

"We're not just dealing with one system that controls all fear," Swanson said.

6 comments:

Heh, this could make for a good horror/comedy movie: the protagonist had a brain operation making him/her fearless of whatever monsters they encounter. I think it could end up being both funny and tense.

Odd, I thought "The Gift of Fear" was some domestic violence survival guide.. Always seems to be bandied about by the relationship advice columnists and women's shelter types. Never read it, didn't know it had something more behind it.

But isn't this similar to the protozoa that lives in cat feces ? The thing pregnant women aren't support to be around, that has all sorts of strange theories behind (causes schizophrenia, and causes rats to have similar no-fear responses to predators, etc ?)

"Gift of Fear" did include info on avoiding rape and domestic abuse, but it was also about innate avoidance responses, though it was more pop psych in its approach and made the claim that we can recognize a series of subtle but real tells that make up a "universal code of violence." I don't know if I buy that part.

As for the toxoplasmosis link, you'll see that the parasite is believed to affect behavioral change by flooding the amygdala with dopamine, so we're talking about a different process.

Dutch courage – one of beer's greatest gifts to mankind – is yet another thing altogether. The "primal fear" system is a matter of rerouting sensory data and toxoplasmosis achieves its effects by flooding certain sections of the system with chemicals, alcohol induces euphoria and self-confidence by making parts of your brain more sensitive to the actions of amino acids associated with the sensation of pleasure. Basically, your brain is overreacting to anything it finds even remotely pleasing, and this includes the thrill of success.

About Me

I have no pets. I own several ties, but rarely have a reason to wear any of them. I sing in the shower but can never remember the words, so I make them up as I go along, and they always end up being songs about showering. I collect slang dictionaries.